The historical evolution of diagnosis and radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 中国癌症杂志

ABSTRACT

Radiation therapy is the mainstay treatment modality of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The treatment outcome of NPC using external beam radiotherapy has been substantially improved over the past several decades. MRI has demonstrated remarkable advantage in detecting the extent of the primary tumor, and has replaced CT scan as the primary imaging modality for both diagnosis and staging for NPC. Functional imaging may further allow more precise staging of the disease and prediction of the treatment outcome. The introduction of Cobalt-60 has substantially improved the treatment outcome for NPC as compared to that in the era of Kilo-Voltage X-ray. And intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) not only improved the prognosis after treatment as compared to conventional radiotherapy, but also improved the quality of life. In addition, concurrent chemoradiation therapy has been extensively studied and become the standard treatment for locally and/or regionally advanced NPC. However,progress in radiation biology and its clinical application was not observed. This article presented a comprehensive review of the historical evolution of the diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and techniques for the management of NPC.